Tom Cruise

Aside from the unceasing public scrutiny, being an A-list actor doesn’t seem so bad. You get paid obscene amounts of money, meet interesting people, and get to travel all across this green Earth in the name of work. And today, you can share in that last part with none other than professional shirtless runner Tom Cruise! Universal will unwrap The Mummy a week from this Friday, and to further stoke excitement for the launch of their new, hilariously-named Dark Universe, the studio has unveiled a video featurette in which star Cruise brings the viewer on a tour of the far-flung locations on which the film was shot.

Tom Cruise’s The Mummy is about to hit theaters and launch a new cinematic universe, which, arguably, was the first cinematic universe ever, according to Mummy director Alex Kurtzman in a new featurette. Universal seems pretty optimistic about the quality of The Mummy (or they wouldn’t have announced this whole shared universe thing just yet), which makes us hopeful too. And, come on, Tom Cruise has been in, like, maybe two truly terrible movies throughout his career.

“Witness the beginning of a dark universe!” The new trailer for The Mummy is going all-in on this Universal Monsters cinematic universe idea. (And also throwing shade at Dracula Untold. Wasn’t that the beginning of this thing? Poor Luke Evans.)

Behold, for your viewing pleasure: a photo of Tom Cruise and Russell Crowe looking at one another.

Universal’s grand plan for world domination, or at least an intertextually connected universe of highly profitable event films, has been put in motion. Their Dracula Untold laid the groundwork by introducing fiction’s most famous vampire into the mix, solo projects for Frankenstein’s monster, the Invisible Man, and monster hunter Van Helsing have all been established, and now The Mummy, the first piece of the puzzle (let’s do Universal a service and call Dracula Untold a warm-up, they can take a mulligan on that one), is set to be unveiled.

Nicole Kidman recently reflected on her 11-year marriage to Tom Cruise and -- finally! -- expressed incredulity over their union.

Pre-production on Mission: Impossible 6 came to a halt last month when a contract dispute between Tom Cruise and Paramount threatened to stall the sixth installment in the blockbuster franchise. The sticking point? Cruise wanted the studio to match — or top — what Universal is paying him to star in The Mummy reboot, but Paramount was a little contentious…yeah right, as if they weren’t going to give Tom Cruise, the star of one of their biggest franchises, what he wants.

Just yesterday we learned that Russell Crowe is in talks to play Dr. Jekyll opposite Tom Cruise in The Mummy, and while Universal has yet to confirm that casting, they have released the first official synopsis for the reboot. The plot description makes some hefty promises for Alex Kurtzman’s directorial debut, which is meant to kickstart a new shared universe of action-packed horror movies based on the studio’s classic monsters.

One of the most frustrating parts of my job are the complaints from some viewers that never line up with reality. When people want to talk about movies with me, the first question after “What should I see right now?” is always some variation of “Why are there so many sequels? Why doesn’t Hollywood make original movies?” I hear this all the time. But the sequels continue to make huge money, while the occasional risk-taking originals tend to fare poorly.

Just 16 years after The Mummy Returns, The Mummy returns.